


Stupid Bees

by brit



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, bucky's smooth as hell, steve not so much, steve's allergic to everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2014-09-05
Packaged: 2018-02-16 06:35:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2259612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brit/pseuds/brit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While running away from a bee, Steve manages to make a complete idiot of himself in front of a really hot stranger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stupid Bees

Steve hates spring. Sure, he enjoys the warmer weather, and he isn’t one to complain about thunderstorms, but goddamn all these insects that just fucking love to fly at his face. And it isn’t his fault that he’s allergic to everything, including bees. So hell yeah if a bee flies at his face he’s making a mad dash for safety. Screw his asthma. That's what his inhaler is for. And if he trips as he’s running away and falls into a bush, should he be laughed at? He doesn’t think so. But here he is, knee scraped up and his hearing aid knocked off from taking a nose dive, and of course someone saw him. The entire fucking campus is at lunch right now but there’s always that one person who sees everything.

“Please tell me you didn’t see that!” Steve calls out to him from where he lay on the ground in the dirt and rocks. He blindly pats the ground to find his hearing aid and puts it back in. He's still laying on the ground as he adjusts it back to the right setting. He's too out of breath to move any more. He goes to get his inhaler, but he just kind of lays still. He needs help getting up.

“Sorry, pal, but I most certainly did.”

He can barely hear stifled laughter but picks up on the crunching of gavel. He needs to adjust the hearing aid some more. Then he sees a hand reaching down to help him up. He takes the hand and has the stranger hoist him up. When he's up right, he's still really embarrassed, so instead of looking at the guy, Steve goes to fix his hearing aid again, keeping his head tilted down. He gets it just right and just in time to hear the stranger ask,  “You alright?” Steve wipes his dirty hands on the back of his shorts and grabs his inhaler to take a puff before looking up to answer. The guy asks again. Steve finally looks up to answer him.

When he looks up though the answer escapes him. Not only is this guy the single most attractive person Steve’s ever seen, but he also just witnessed Steve look like a total fucking idiot. Steve has to take another puff of his inhaler. The guy’s eyebrow quirks up. He has a smile that lets Steve know that he knows exactly what Steve is thinking. Steve wonders if it’s too late to just sink back down and take up residence in the bush for the rest of his life, avoiding having to talk to this gorgeous man.

“I, uh, I’m good. Fine. Yeah.” He sounds like a moron. The guy bites his lip to hide a smile.

“Is there any particular reason why you just sprinted across the quad and tripped into a bush?”

“There was a, a bee,” Steve lamely admits. “A bee flew into my face.” Steve wants to die. The guy can’t hold his laughter this time and starts to cackle. Literally, this guy is cackling at Steve. Steve’s face, already red from running and falling and then being embarrassed, turns a deeper shade of embarrassed.

“A bee? I’ve never seen someone run so fast away from a bee before. Like, that was impressive.” He’s still laughing. And if Steve wasn’t already dead inside, he might actually find the guy’s laughter charming.

“I’m allergic, asshole. Talking life and death here. Excuse me for not wanting to die.” He stops laughing. He looks at Steve, trying to see if he’s being serious. When Steve doesn’t crack a smile to let him know it was a joke, his face falls.

“No shit,” is all he says. Steve nods his head.

“Shit. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go die of embarrassment.” Steve tries to push his way past but the guy won’t let him.

“If you’re not too busy with the whole dying thing, I was on my way to the cafeteria if you wanted to get lunch. It’ll be my treat since you had a near death experience and all.” Steve has a meal plan so his meals are already free and he also has class in twenty minutes. It’s history and he likes history. History could never compete with a tall brunet with the prettiest pink lips that’s offering Steve lunch though.

“Sure. I’m free.” Steve’s not one for lying, but this is totally justifiable. His professor will understand. Probably not actually. Still, he doesn’t care.

“I’m Bucky, by the way,” the guy offers Steve his hand again. Steve takes it and so what if he lingers a little longer than handshakes are supposed to go for? Bucky doesn’t seem to mind.

“Steve,” he responds after a little while of essentially just holding hands. They let go of each others hands and start walking to the cafeteria. It’s packed like Steve had known it was going to be. Bucky looks at Steve to see if he’s okay with waiting. Steve nods his head. He hasn’t eaten yet (he was planning on getting something after history) and he hadn’t realized just how hungry he is.

It takes them nearly thirty minutes to finally get their food and find a place to sit. Steve isn’t sure why he’s so happy that the table they find is in the back corner, secluded from most everyone else, but he is. They sit down without talking. They start eating, finally making small talk. What year are you? What’s your major? Do you live on campus? The typical questions that strangers ask each other. Then Bucky stops talking to just look at Steve, a soft smile on his face.

“What?”

“You have something,” Bucky points at his upper lip. Steve’s hand flies up to his face and wipes. How many times is he going to embarrass himself in front of this kid?

“Am I good?” He can feel the slight heat on his cheeks. Bucky’s eyes sweep Steve’s face. He licks his lips, something Steve has noticed that he does often. It’s kind of driving Steve crazy.

“Perfect.” They share a smile before going back to eating. Every so often Steve looks up from his plate to catch Bucky looking at him. Their feet keep brushing under the table. Steve tries not to read too far into it.

They continue their talk. Steve finds out that Bucky’s favorite movie is The Godfather, but he has a really big soft spot for Peter Pan. He’s originally from Romania, moved to Brooklyn when he was 12. He hates mushrooms unless they’re on Swiss burgers. And he always wanted to be a firefighter but he’s going to school for business, go figure.

Bucky asks Steve about his bee allergy (“could you really die?”) and Steve laughs. He tells Bucky that, yes, he could die from a bee sting without the proper immediate treatment. Plus he lists his mile long list of his other allergies. Starting with bees and making his way down to tomatoes, hitting almost every letter in between. Bucky looks completely astonished. How can someone be allergic to so many things? Sometimes Steve wants to know that answer himself.

“Steve!” Steve hears Natasha’s voice coming from across the cafeteria. Her voice is brash. He's in trouble. He sinks a little in his seat. Bucky looks over his shoulder to see what's happening. Natasha comes stomping over to the table, her hand on her hip, foot tapping in aggravation. “Where the hell were you? I was about to head over to your place with a cup of soup. I thought you were sick again. You never miss class unless you’re sick.” She's holding a cup of soup. Steve feels guilty.

“You had class?” Bucky asks. Steve looks between Natasha and Bucky.

“Yeah, I did. But it’s fine,” he assures Bucky. He turns to Natasha who needs a lot more convincing. “Nat, it’s fine. I’m fine.” It’s not very convincing but he really just wants to get back to his lunch date. Yes, it’s totally a date.

“You’re fine? Then why are your knees and hands all scraped up? Did you fall down Steve?” She’s too much like a mother sometimes. “And who is this?” Natasha pulls a chair up, making Bucky move over. Bucky doesn’t know what was going on, but he doesn’t question it.

“Nat this is Bucky. Bucky this is my friend Natasha. Bucky witnessed me running away from a bee and fall into a bush. But like I said, I’m fine. So you don’t have to worry about me.” Natasha knows what Steve’s trying to do. She’s choosing to ignore his silent pleas though.

“A bee? Running? Steve I swear. Do I need to start following you 24/7?”

“I thought you already did,” Steve mutters under his breath. Natasha glares at him. Bucky looks between the two of them. Steve’s afraid he’s going to leave.

"What was that?" 

"You heard me Natasha. I'm the one who's partially deaf, not you." Natasha practically snarls at him. She hates when Steve says shit like that. He does it just to piss her off.

"Steven Rogers..." She's about to make an empty threat. Steve's not in the mood for it today.

“Look, Nat, you’re being extremely rude to Bucky. He and I were having a very nice lunch and you just interrupted us. I’ll call you when we’re done.” Nat’s about to protest when Steve kicks her from under the table. Or he thinks he’s kicking her. Instead, Bucky lets out a little yelp. He looks at Steve, confused. Natasha’s snake of a smile appears on her lips before she pushes herself away from the table and gets up.

“Now who’s being rude? At least I didn’t kick him.” She walks over to Steve and kisses the top of his head. “You better call me, you little shit.” She places the soup in front of him. “And drink this. You can never be too careful, Steve.” Steve rolls his eyes but thanks her anyway.

“What the hell?” Bucky says as soon as Natasha is out of ear shot. Steve winces a little. Natasha can be a little abrasive sometimes. Steve grabs his plate and starts to walk over to the trash. He throws away his soup. Natasha always gets him chicken noodle even though he's made it very clear that he does not like the school's chicken noodle. Bucky gets up as well and follows Steve.

“Sorry about her.” Steve says as he places his plate on the rack. Bucky continues to follow Steve’s lead.

“No, not her. You! Like I thought your list of allergies was bad. But now it seems like that’s the least of your worries.” They head out of the cafeteria and back into the springtime. Steve’s on the look out for bees. Steve’s not sure where they’re headed, but he’s not going to disturb their conversation to ask.

“Nat over exaggerates. She acts like I’m on my death bed. I’m not, by the way.” Steve just has to make sure that that’s clear. They turn right, heading toward the library. They’re walking close to each other. Their arms brush into each other every so often. Neither of them make an effort to take a step away.

“So allergies, asthma, partial deafness, what else?” They stop outside of the library. People are milling around now. The lunch dead zone is lifting. Bucky leans against a wall. Steve stands in front of him, looking up.

“If I told you, you’d look at me like everyone else does.” The list is practically endless. Heart murmur, diabetic, color blind, scoliosis, partial deafness, high blood pressure, anemia, so on and so forth. It wasn't a conversation Steve liked getting into.   

“And how’s that?” Bucky peers down. That’s not that look, he can tell him that. He never wants Bucky to look away. Steve’s eyes keep landing on Bucky’s lips. Bucky notices. He licks them again. Steve really needs him to stop that. He looks up at Bucky's eyes. Steve loves the glint of excitement that's buried under the worry. 

“Like I’m broken. And I’m not broken.” It’s Steve’s biggest pet peeve. Every time he explains his ailments the look in peoples eyes shift from friendly to pity. Steve really only has Natasha who doesn’t look at him like that. And the way Bucky’s looking at him now is something he doesn’t want to lose.

“I’d never think that, Stevie.” Steve smiles at the nickname. He hasn’t had anyone call him that since his mother died.

“You say that now."

"I mean it." He puts his hand on Steve’s shoulder. Steve has the urge to put his hand on Bucky’s hand but he resists. He also has to resist the urge to kiss Bucky.

"Thanks." For whatever reason, Steve believes Bucky. He believes this stranger. Maybe it's the way he's looking at him now.

“If I ask you if you’re free for tomorrow, you promise not to lie?” Bucky asks, taking his hand off of Steve’s shoulder. Steve pushes Bucky. They both laugh.

“Why?”

“Planning on asking you out on a date. Dinner and a movie. And not at the shitty cafeteria. At Cafe 45, around 7. Then whatever movie is playing. The whole shebang.” Steve’s cheeks go pink. He’s blushed way too much today. He doesn’t understand why Bucky wants to go on a date with him, but he won’t question it.

“Oh,” is all he can manage to get out. He had a suave response planned in his head, but that’s all that comes out.

“So?” Bucky asks, taking a little step closer. “Are you free?” Steve tries to hide his smile but he can’t.

Steve’s about to answer when he hears a buzzing. Out of the corner of his eye he sees it. A stupid fucking bee. He jumps and falls into Bucky. Bucky catches him and pulls him inside of the library. Bucky cradles his face and asks him if he’s okay.

“Yes. To both of your questions.” Bucky looks at him, slightly confused. Steve shakes his head as he pulls Bucky in for a kiss. Bucky sucks in a breath, shocked. He relaxes quick though. It’s a short kiss before Steve pulls back. They look at each other.

“Fuck,” Bucky whispers. Steve wants to kiss him again when someone from behind them clears their throat. Steve had forgotten that they were literally in the doorway of the library. Steve looks at all the people staring at them. Surprisingly, he doesn’t blush. Bucky does though. Steve grabs his hand and leads them back outside.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Buck.”

 


End file.
